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Initiative in memory of Lauren Davis is part of new safe streets petition tool

August 25, 2016

Danielle Davis, whose sister Lauren was killed by a driver while riding her bike on Brooklyn’s Classon Avenue in April, has launched a petition campaign for a bike lane on the avenue, with the help of the street safety advocacy group Transportation Alternatives. 67 cyclists and 98 pedestrians have been injured on Classon Avenue since 2009, and two people have been killed, Danielle Davis writes in the petition addressed to City Council members Laurie Cumbo and Robert Cornegy, and to Brooklyn Community Boards 2 and 3.

“Thousands more cyclists who ride on this street need protection now,” Danielle Davis said. “In 2012, the Department of Transportation changed Classon Avenue from a two-lane street into a one-lane street with a widened parking lane — instead of installing a bike lane that could have saved my sister’s life. I started this petition because I believe the most vulnerable people on Classon Avenue and every New York City street should be protected, instead of being forced to fend for themselves, which is disgraceful.”

“We support this petition because we agree that it was a mistake for the DOT to paint a wide parking lane instead of putting a bike lane on a known bike route — out of fear of community board opposition,” said Paul Steely White, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives. “We also felt it was important to stand with the family after anonymous police sources once again engaged in victim-blaming by initially telling reporters that Lauren Davis was riding the wrong way when she was killed -- a statement the NYPD later retracted, thanks to the tireless efforts of her family who found a witness.”

Danielle Davis’ Classon Avenue petition is part of TransAlt Campaigns, a new online tool launched in beta by the advocacy group, to empower New Yorkers to start their own petitions to change local streets.